Ridgewood Has One Of 'Best Commutes To Manhattan' In NJ: Report

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — If you want to have an easy commute to Manhattan, Ridgewood is a pretty good place to live, a recent study says.

Several municipalities in Bergen County, including Ridgewood, cracked the top 40 in Property Shark's "best New Jersey commuter towns to Manhattan."

With an average commute time of 82 minutes, Ridgewood ranked36th on the list, which considered towns and cities with a population above 25,000 that are located within a 30-mile radius of downtown Manhattan.

According to Property Shark, "With 25,554 residents, Ridgewood ranks highly on two main fronts: its school rating is the highest on our list and it has a remarkable safety score. According to GreatSchools.org, each of the town’s elementary schools rank above average. However, the city ranks at the bottom of our list because its location – 19 miles from downtown Manhattan – means that commuting via mass transit to downtown takes 82 minutes. Also, Ridgewood’s premium $790,000 median home sale price is the highest on our list."

Bus, rail and vehicle travel were all factored into the study, as were housing costs, schools and crime. Learn about the methodology and see the full list.

According to Property Shark:

"Manhattan is an employment hub overflowing with opportunity. However, commuters from all over the surrounding areas – who are unable to afford the borough's prohibitive housing costs – crowd the highways at rush hour. For housing and commuting alternatives, we looked over the Hudson to see which New Jersey towns were best for those working in downtown Manhattan. Hence, we compiled a list of New Jersey commuter towns located within a 30-mile radius of downtown Manhattan (using Google Maps) and calculated the average commute time via mass transit. We set the travel time for 9 a.m. on Monday."

Property Shark added:

"Furthermore, because commute time is not the only concern when it comes to location, we also broadened the scope and looked at the following attributes for each town: median home price, school rating according to GreatSchools.com and crime rate according to the FBI database. We weighted the metrics of each attribute as follows: 40% for commute time, 30% for home affordability, 15% for crime rate and 15% for school score."